For those of you who still think this planet is being heated up catastrophically by CO2, I have some facts for you, but before you read them I'd like to reiterate the following:
Yes, we need to get off fossil fuels. Yes, we need to stop polluting our environment. Yes, we need to invest in Green alternative technologies and grow more plants, plant more trees, etc.
And now for the facts:
CO2 is the Least Powerful of the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The Most powerful of the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is actually water vapor, as in humidity and clouds. Look it up.
CO2 comprises the Smallest Percentage of the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The greenhouse gas that comprises the largest percentage of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is water vapor. Look it up.
The supposed scientific consensus of 97%, or whatever, is based on a Flawed survey of pre-selected individuals. The ACTUAL consensus of Climatologists around the world, Including Everyone not just a few chosen people, is that Humans are not causing catastrophic global warming with CO2 emissions.
In Science it doesn't Matter if there is a consensus or not. For instance, All the scientists in the world used to think man would never fly, much less land on the moon. All scientists in the world used to think humans could never travel faster than 35 MPH, or something, or they'd be smashed into bloody pulp. All scientists in the world once thought the Earth was the center of the universe, that every other body in the sky orbited Earth in crazy gyrating dances. All it takes to shake up any supposed Consensus is ONE person with irrefutable logic and facts that contradict the consensus. There is therefore no logical reason for a call to authority in defense of any theory.
There are Feed-backs built into the incredibly complex climate system of our planet. The climate has Always changed and Will Always change, but it is remarkably good at remaining stable over long periods of time. As in it can take hundreds of thousands of years for any major changes to occur. One of the most powerful feed-backs is Clouds. Not only do they redistribute water around the planet, they Reflect sunlight back into space. So the more a body of water heats up, the more water vapor evaporates from it, and the more water vapor there is in the atmosphere the more clouds will form, and the more clouds there are the less of the Sun's heating rays gets through to the surface to heat up the planet, which means that Warming causes Cooling to balance things out again.
We do not live on a flat planet, it's generally round. Therefore when land ice melts the ocean's water level will not increase to the point of flooding all of human civilization. The more water is added to the ocean, the more surface area there is. The more surface area there is the more water is required to reach the next level. For an instance of this put an inch of water into two martini glasses, they are basically funnel shaped. Now pour the one inch of water from one glass into the other. Is there two inches of water in the second glass? No. Why not?
CO2 is not a pollutant, it is plant food. There's a Reason it's called a Greenhouse Gas, because Plants Love It! If you have a Greenhouse it is a Good idea to put as much Carbon in the place as you can, for plants to suck up and grow nice and healthy.
There has Never been runaway catastrophic heating that causes a mass extinction in the history of this planet, Despite the Fact that CO2 levels used to be Much Higher than they are now in the ancient past.
CO2 levels do not, I repeat, NOT precede temperature changes in the climate, it is The Opposite. The Temperature goes up, THEN CO2 levels increase. CO2 gets sequestered in ice, at the bottom of the ocean, and in frozen tundra when it's very very cold, such as an Ice Age. When the earth warms, and ice melts, and the ocean warms up, CO2 gets released in Far Greater amounts than anything humans have been able to release by digging up and burning fossil fuels!
And Last, but not least, the Earth's average temperature has Not increased in 19 years!!! Every predictive model by the CO2 fear mongering AGW Hoaxers has Failed, Utterly, to predict the doom and gloom they keep claiming! NOT ONE MODEL HAS BEEN PROVEN ACCURATE!
I agree with the Green Party on policies that will decrease, and eventually put an end to, fossil fuel use in the USA. I just Don't agree with the CO2 fear mongering going on. CO2 is not the enemy. When I exhale I feel no guilt whatsoever for the CO2 coming out of my lungs. When I turn on my furnace to heat the house I feel no guilt whatsoever for the CO2 it emits from burning natural gas. When I turn on my shower with hot water I feel no guilt for the CO2 the water heater uses to heat the water for my shower.
When Dad takes me places in the gasoline guzzling van I don't fret about the CO2 it's putting out. I want to eventually get an Air Car, that runs on compressed air. I want to not have to worry about breathing on a bad smog day. I want to not have bad asthma attacks. So, YES I want us to all stop burning gasoline, coal, and diesel.
But, here's the thing I hate the most about the carbon taxes and credits system. Corporations will be able to Purchase Permission to keep burning fossil fuels! It won't Stop them! It will just add a new cost of doing business, which they will pass on to their customers. Which means Poor and Middle class will get squeezed! Fuel costs should not be so high that people have to choose between putting gas in their car or getting food. If there is going to be some kind of tax on these fuels, let that tax go to helping subsidize the poor and middle class to get alternative fuel cars and the fuels that power them.
The second thing I hate about carbon taxes is when they are enforced internationally on developing nations that do Not have the technological capability to switch to green alternatives. Forcing them to be unable to develop the same way all the First World nations developed will cause mass starvation and death as crops fail due to a lack of fuel to run farm equipment. There are numerous other examples of why high fuel costs would cripple the economies of these developing countries. So, Again, IF there is to be taxes on fossil fuels those taxes should be used to subsidize alternative fuels and their technologies so developing countries do not suffer.